Today, as never before, the local voices of citizens needs to be heard loud and clear. Two great issues affect the world and the United States. And a third hangs like a storm cloud over Malibu.
With the failure of the space shuttle Columbia and the loss of the seven hero astronauts, the future was threatened. The hopes and dreams of people everywhere for manned flight exploration into whole new realms has been set on hold. The promise of the world and the new challenges lay in these launches. The last such disaster cost the manned space program 15 years. Our demand must be that this time, sufficient funding will be granted and that our government will assure that political pressure will not be allowed to run the manned space program.
The second great call for citizen voices is the U.S. armed services poised to attack Iraq without a coalition of support from the United Nations. The polls show that about 50 percent of Americans are saying no without United Nations support. Many of us remember Vietnam and the domino theory by our military that said if Vietnam fell the rest of Asia would fall like dominos to the communists. The country was divided as now. It took us 30 years to heal our wounds. A unilateral move on Iraq threatens thousands of our service people, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens of Iraq killed by not-so-smart bombs. If we win, yes, an occupation that, according to the president’s own predication, will demand occupation troops for up to 15 years. Should we decide to move unilaterally in Iraq, that will do as much to weaken the United Nations, as America’s refusal to join the League of Nations after World War I. There will be lots of meetings and e-mail activity over the next week, a chance for all of us to add our voices and opinions. Make yourself heard.
And the third great call for our voices is in Malibu where the California Coastal Commission continues to try to exercise its Draconian will through a tyrannical plan it adopted for Malibu. The commission was declared unconstitutional by the Appeals Court for violation of balance of power. Our Legislature and governor hope to give it a minimum tweak instead of an overall reconstitution. Meanwhile, the Malibu City Council continues to work on its own version of a Malibu Coastal Plan. We are as a city still trying to get the court to approve our referendum. Don’t forget this threat to us citizens. It hasn’t gone away.
Georgianna McBurney